Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Because of his incredible performance of "Lift Every Voice & Sing" at the Sandy Ground dramatic musical (posted previously), the P.S.22 Chorus' very own Justin has been selected to perform at the Martin Luther King Memorial Observance Ceremony (www.nyking.org) on Monday, January 15th, 2007!!!

One of the Sandy Ground descendants took notice of Justin's prodigious talent, and recommended him for this huge honor! And a HUGE honor it is, as this observance is the most highly-regarded & prestigious M.L.K. Jr. honarary event in the entire nation. It will be broadcast live in 5 states, and is known to attract over 40 million viewers! Justin, we are so thrilled for and incredibly proud of you! No one is more qualified than you to represent the heart and soul of P.S.22 at this important tribute to a real American hero.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

"Sandy Ground: Flowers of the Sand", is the true story of the trials, tribulations, & accomplishments of a local Staten Island community that left a legacy of humble greatness. PS22 wrote, produced, and performed this show after visiting the Sandy Ground museum, in Staten Island. Sandy Ground was the first free African-American community started by ancestors of many who still live in the area. We thank all of the many Sandy Grounders who attended the performances, including Lois Mosley (author of "Sandy Ground Memories") and her sons Greg and Gerald, Julie Moody Lewis (Sandy Ground Historical Society president), and Sylvia D'Alessandro (Sandy Ground Museum curator and executive director). Your presence there gave us added pride and inspiration. To learn more about Sandy Ground and why it is an officially documented United States historical landmark, check out:

http://www.statenislandusa.com/pages/sandy_ground.html

Justin's JAW-DROPPING performance of "Lift Every Voice And Sing", the African-American anthem.

Our first American Idol competition in 2003 was one of our most beloved productions, and gave rise to some legendary PS22 vocal performances and otherwise! See them here!

David (the amazing singer of Tori Amos' Not The Red Baron posted previously) hosted PS22's American Idol competition. A funny, entertaining, multi-talented kid! Check out his antics here as we introduce the show!

Chris won in his category with this amazing rendition of the Wayne Wonder hit, "No Letting Go"! And singing to mommy? Brilliant!! One of the winning performances:

It was quite a shocker when the votes revealed a tie between Chris & Farouk, and the audience couldn't have been more thrilled to see these two share the title of American Idol! So here is the other winner of the 5th grade chorus member category, Farouk, singing Lil' Corey's & Lil' Romeo's hit, "Hush Lil' Lady"!

And here is little Zaria in kindergarten when she stole the show with her amazing performance of the spiritual, "Do Lord". No surprise that Zaria is currently a star member of this year's PS22 Chorus!

Check out these highlights of our elementary school's extremely entertaining American Idol auditions....

Thursday, September 21, 2006

In the aftermath of the tragic events of September 11th 2001, the teachers at P.S.22 felt the responsibility to provide our students with an opportunity to take the day back from the terrorists. We decided to make a movie. The Conference looks at the events of 9/11 from a child’s perspective. The title is a reference to the historic Conference House in Staten Island, which has its own special September 11th connection. There the protagonist learns about other significant events that occurred on that date throughout history, and helps him put the tragic events of 2001 into a broader perspective. The real emotional punch of the film is in the interspersed documentary footage of actual conversations with P.S.22 students, in which they address all sorts of relevant issues. What’s it like to have a 9/11 birthday? What can we do about racism against Muslims? What’s it like for a kid whose name is Ossama? Did anything positive come out of the attacks? Is there healing after so great a tragedy? These are just some of the many issues we chose to tackle in our feature length presentation of The Conference. The students involved in the project truly represent the voice of hope, which makes for a viewing experience that is nothing short of cathartic.

The beginning & the premise.... "What's it like to have a 9/11 birthday in the aftermath of the tragedy?"

Ossama talks about how tough it was to come to a new school, just a few days before the September 11th tragedy occurred. Then the chorus sings an original song of mine called, "Sometimes I," to help him feel better.

Ossama learns he is a hero, in his own quiet way.

This segment shows the protagonist Steven, whose birthday is on Sept. 11th, learning that some wonderful things happened on his birthday too. This is one of the lightest(and funniest!!) scenes from the movie. In a Scrooge-like fashion, the spirit of Yesterday takes Steven back to the year that world famous soprano Jenny Lind came to New York to give her first American appearance....on Sept. 11th. In the scene she is rehearsing with her music coach, who is having trouble with his pupil AND his moustache (unintentional humor is always the funniest!!).....

Documentary footage. "What can we do to make the city & the world a better place?"

A documentary segment -- how & when the kids first found out about the attack....

A song from the film called "Comet Chameleon" (based on the Culture Club song "Karma Chameleon"), which was used for a scene that re-enacts a Halley's Comet appearance that occurred on September 11.

This scene is the end of the documentary portion of the film, in which the kids with Sept. 11 b-days make their birthday wishes for the upcoming year. They give us hope for a happy ending....

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Back in 2004, when talk of water on Mars and the Rovers were all over the news, the kids put on a Martian musical production entitled "True Colors -- My First Trip To Mars". It was co-directed by our FANTASTIC conflict resolution teacher, Mrs. Verano! It's about a group of astronauts who crash land on Mars. On their quest for water and supplies to help in their return home, they encounter the purple people, green people, the orange people, and the Blue Gray and the Gray Blue Girls (a real Crayola nightmare...) One scene with the Blue-Gray Girls used Tori Amos' song "Cornflake Girl", which of course became, "Never was a Blue-Gray Girl..." The earthlings must teach them to overcome their prejudice and become reunited as one Martian race in order to return home AND save Mars from total destruction! Below are some highlights!

"Purple People Eater" from Martian Michael and the PS22 Chorus!

The Green People (Lacoy & Shiva) encounter the earthlings... HILARIOUS!!

Monday, September 18, 2006

After the stunning reception that 2001's graduating class singing Tori Amos' "Twinkle" received on YouTube (notice almost 3000 visits to the video!!!) we felt compelled to share this!! In 2003, singer/DJ Judy Torres visited our school to listen to, talk to, sing to, and sing with our fifth grade chorus. Judy, if you see this, thanks for an unforgettable day!!! Please come back anytime!

Here is the chorus singing for Judy a great version of Tori Amos' Carbon! Judy has some very lovely things to say about the chorus after the song ends. Check it out!!

Here the kids accompany Judy Torres on a ballad version of her classic dance hit, "There's No Reason For You To Cry"! This is just phenomenal! And boy, does that Judy have pipes!!! The best is to see the kids' reactions to her power-house moments!!!

And here is the autographed pic she gave to us! In addition to this, she signed personalized messages on individual pics for ALL of the kids in the chorus! What a class act!

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Mr. B with Tori Amos (and his good friend Chris with his ex), whom all the kids in the chorus know is his favorite singer/pianist/composer (as every other song he teaches them is Tori or Tori-inspired cover songs). I had the good fortune of meeting Tori at a radio interview promotion for Boys For Pele, and at the filming of her MTV Unplugged episode. I also had the opportunity to talk to her and share with her just how much the kids adored her music at The New York Timestalk with Anne Powers during the Q&A segment of the interview. In response to my giving her a video of my kids' singing Twinkle, she sang her daughter Tash's lullaby for me (I guess an audience was there too.... ) We'll be hearing a lot of her music here as performed by the chorus. Tori, if you ever stumble upon this site, we hope one day you'll come over and play with us................Fantasy alert! :)

I taught Deon this, one of my all time favorite Tori Amos songs, the very last day of school! I think he does a brilliant job handling the song's tricky melody, considering he learned it the day we recorded it!

Tori Amos

"They were so good! Their arrangements -- their sound -- it was so good.... It was...... disarming. It means so much that they took it and made it their own."-- Tori Amos after a private performance by the PS22 Chorusof her songs at the Sony Atrium in N.Y.C.

Common

"I feel honored to perform with PS22. The energy brought me up to a natural high on music and art, and just the spirits of you all. You all are so exciting to perform with..... I'm gonna remember this day forever."--hip hop legendCommonon performing with the PS22 Chorus at the National Tree Lighting 2009 for President Obama

David Cook

"Oh my God! It's ridiculous... It is incredible how good you guys are!!"-- David Cook, American Idol winner, after singing with PS22 Chorus!

Bonnie Hunt

Innocence Mission

"What a beautiful, beautiful, joyful version. It is a huge improvement on the original. The children brought tears to my eyes with their glorious singing and smiles. I so love the energy of this performance, the arrangement, the harmonies, everything."-- Karen PerisofThe Innocence Missionin apersonal message to the PS22 Chorusafter seeing the kids' video of the song "There" from their album, GLOW

Tribute WTC

Wikipedia

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IMPROVS

Improvising is a skill that really demands great natural musical ability, particularly to do it at 9 or 10 years old! All of the following songs were being created and recorded as you hear them here (with some minor post-editing). PS22 Chorus member JUSTIN, with occasional super-special guests including legendary PS22 Chorus Alumni CLIVE, DEON, BEN, ADIZA, KARIMA, BRI-AH, & AMANDA D., demonstrates the technique brilliantly.

Stevie Nicks

B.J. Novak

"My God! We watch you all the time at work, at The Office, all the actors, all the writers... You guys are amazing! I swear to you, you're an inspiration, keep it up!"-- B.J. Novak, star of The Office, raves about the PS22 Chorusat The Webby Awards!

Sinead O'Connor

"Most beautiful, joyous thing I seen apart from me own children ." -- Sinead O'Connorafter seeing the PS22 Chorus video of her song "Jackie!" PS22 was then invited to be the opening act for her concert at the Highline Ballroom in New York City.

Passion Pit

"These kids made the record what we had been dreaming it to be, as they are integral parts of three songs.... It felt so unbelievable to have the exact sound that I wanted coming through the headphones...."-- Michael Angelakosof Passion Pit on recording with the PS22 Chorus

Nancy Pelosi

"...You indeed, as you sing, 'rule the world!'"--Speaker of the HouseNancy Pelosiafter hearing the chorus sing at the Capitol